Luis J. Rodriguez
Luis J. Rodriguez (born 1954) is an American poet, novelist, journalist, critic, and columnist. Life Overview Rodriquez has won several awards, and is recognized as a major figure of contemporary Chicano literature. His best-known work, Always Running: La vida loca, gang days in L.A., has been the subject of controversy when included on reading lists in California, Illinois, Michigan, and Texas schools due to its frank depictions of gang life. Rodriguez has also founded or co-founded numerous organizations, including the Tía Chucha Press, which publishes the work of unknown writers; Tía Chucha's Centro Cultural, a San Fernando Valley cultural center; and the Chicago-based Youth Struggling for Survival, an organization for at-risk youth. Family and childhood Rodriguez was born in the United States/Mexico border city of El Paso, Texas. His parents, natives of Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico, had their children on the U.S. side of the border to ease the transition into the United States, where they had intentions of relocating. His father was said to be a high school principal but was really a school janitor and his mother, who is descended from the Raramuri, a people indigenous to Chihuahua, was a school secretary. The elder Rodriguez, who refused to be dominated by local politicians from the Institutional Revolutionary Party, relocated the family to South Los Angeles when Rodriguez was 2. There he spent the early part of his childhood and witnessed the 1965 Watts Riots. The family later moved to the San Gabriel Valley, and Luis joined a street gang at the age of 11. He had joined the Lomas gang (which translates to the "Hills") during their early wars with the Sangra 13 gang (Chicano slang for "San Gabriel"). The 2 gangs are still active as of today in the San Gabriel Valley and still maintain a fierce rivalry despite gentrification. Gang and political activities During the 1960s and 1970s, Rodriguez was an active gang member in East Los Angeles, developing a long rap sheet. However, his criminal activity did not preclude his participation in the Chicano Movement, and he joined the 1968 East L.A. walkouts and attended the August 31, 1970, Chicano Moratorium against the Vietnam War. At the moratorium, he was brutalized and arrested along with numerous other peaceful protesters. In 1972, he painted several murals in the San Gabriel Valley communities of Rosemead and South San Gabriel. During part of this period he was a student at Mark Keppel High School in Alhambra, and he later attended California State University, Los Angeles briefly from 1972–1973, and became a member of the Chicano activist group MEChA. The 2 currents in his life came to an inevitable head when at the age of 18, a sentence imposed for a criminal conviction was mitigated by letters of support from community members who saw his potential. Feeling a sense of indebtedness to those who had helped him, he decided to dedicate himself to community organizing on behalf of the Mexican American people. Career In 1980, he began attending night school at East Los Angeles College, and working as a photographer for several area publications. That summer he attended a workshop for minority journalists at UC Berkeley, after which he covered crime and other urban issues for the San Bernardino Sun. At the same time, he continued to be active in East Los Angeles, leading a group of barrio writers and publishing ChismeArte, a Chicano art journal, out of an office at Self Help Graphics & Art. He wrote Always Running as a cautionary tale for his son Ramiro, who joined a Chicago street gang at the age of 15 and is currently incarcerated. Quotations "Art is the heart's explosion on the world. Music. Dance. Poetry. Art on cars, on walls, on our skins. There is probably no more powerful force for change in this uncertain and crisis-ridden world than young people and their art. It is the consciousness of the world breaking away from the strangle grip of an archaic social order." "I was pretty upset when I found out The Amazing Race on CBS wasn't about Latinos." Recognition Always Running: La vida loca, gang days in L.A., won the Carl Sandburg Literary Award, among others. In 1998, Rodriguez received the Hispanic Heritage Award for Literature. His other writing awards include a Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Writers’ Award, a Poetry Center Book Award, Paterson Poetry Prize, a PEN/Josephine Miles Literary Award, a Lannan fellowship for poetry, a California Arts Council fellowship, and several Illinois Arts Council fellowships. His books for children, America Is Her Name and It Doesn't Have To Be This Way: A barrio story, have been published in English and Spanish, and have won several prizes including a Parent’s Choice Book Award.Luis J. Rodriguez, Steven Barclay Agency. Web, Nov. 11, 2018. In 1993, he was awarded the Dorothea Lang-Paul Taylor Prize in Journalism with photojournalist Donna De Cesare for their coverage of Salvadoran gang youth in Los Angeles and El Salvador. He was appointed Los Angeles Poet Laureate in 2014, and served 2014-2016. Publications Poetry *''The Concrete River''. Willimantic, CT: Curbstone Press, 1991. ISBN 0-915306-42-5 *''Poems across the Pavement''. Chicago: Tia Chuch Press, 1989. ISBN 0-9624287-0-1 *''Trochemoche: Poems''. Willimantic, CT: Curbstone Press, 1998. ISBN 1-880684-50-0 *''My Nature is Hunger: New & selected poems, 1989-2004''. Willimntic, CT: Curbstone Press, 2005. ISBN 1-931896-24-0 Novel *''Music of the Mill: A novel''. New York: Rayo, 2005. ISBN 0-06-056076-2 Short fiction *''The Republic of East L.A.: Stories''. New York: Rayo, 2002. ISBN 0-06-621263-4 Non-fiction *''Always Running: La vida loca, gang days in L.A.'' Willimantic, CT: Curbstone Press, 1993. ISBN 1-880684-06-3 *''Hearts and Hands: Creating community in violent times''. New York: Seven Stories Press, 2001. ISBN 1-58322-263-4 *''It Calls You Back: An odyssey through love, addition, revolutions, and healing''. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2011. Juvenile *''America Is Her Name'' (illustrated by Carlos Vasquez). Willimantic, CT: Curbstone Press, 1998. ISBN 1-880684-40-3 *''It Doesn't Have to Be This Way: A barrio story'' (illustrated by Daniel Galvex). San Francisco: Children's Book Press, 1999. Edited *''Soul Talk: Urban youth poetry: A writing project featuring Syracuse City School District students'' (edited with M. Kristina Montero). Philadelphia : New City Community Press, 2007. *''Honor comes hard : writings from the California prison system's honor yard'' (edited with Lucinda Thomas). Publisher: Los Angeles & San Fernando, CA: Tia Chucha Press, 2009. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:Luis J. Rodriguez, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Jan. 27, 2015. Audio / video *''Luis Rodriguez Reads his Poetry, Mar. 21, 1991'' (VHS). San Francisco, CA: American Poetry Archive, Poetry Center, San Francisco State University, 1991. *''Luis J. Rodriguez''. Los Angeles: Lannn Foundation, 1993. *''My Name's Not Rodriguez'' (CD). San Fernando, CA: Dos Manos Records, 2002. Except where noted, discoographical information courtesy WorldCat. See also * List of Chicano poets * List of U.S. poets References External links ;Poems *Luis J. Rodriguez at the Academy of American Poets (profile & poem, "The Concrete River") ;Prose *"George’s gang policy shows the Administration’s true colors", The Progressive, August 2005 ;Audio / video *Interview on The Gregory Mantell Show *Poetry.LA's video of Luis J. Rodriquez' reading, Word Benefit Poetry Marathon at Avenue 50 Studio, Highland Park, CA, 09/27/08 *Luis J. Rodriguez at YouTube *KCET Departures interview with Luis Rodriguez life on the river *Videos ;Books *Luis J. Rodriguez at Amazon.com ;About *Luis J. Rodriguez b. 1954 at the Poetry Foundation *Luis J. Rodriguez Official website. *An interview with Luis J. Rodriguez at Blue Mesa Review, 2012. Category:1954 births Category:American children's writers Category:American novelists Category:American poets of Mexican descent Category:Gang members Category:Living people Category:American writers of Mexican descent Category:People from El Paso, Texas Category:People from the San Fernando Valley Category:Hispanic and Latino American novelists Category:Hispanic and Latino American journalists Category:Writers from Los Angeles, California Category:20th-century poets Category:21st-century poets Category:American poets Category:English-language poets Category:Poets Category:Chicano poets Category:American Poets Laureate